“Following a strong run here in 2014 where we ran at the front of the field for most of the race, we hope to find some of that same form this time around. Obviously we’re dealing with a completely different set of circumstances this year with the aerokit and our first race here at Fontana during the midday heat. We have some unexplained issues from our previous two oval races at Indy and Texas to hopefully solve this weekend. We’re working tirelessly to put this No. 28 DHL Honda up toward the front of the pack where it belongs.”
Track: Auto Club Speedway, a 2-mile, D-shaped oval in Fontana, Calif.
Entry List: MAVTV 500 (PDF)
Race distance: 250 laps / 500 miles
Firestone tire allotment: Fifteen sets for use through the weekend
Twitter: @ACSupdates @IndyCar, #MAVTV500, #IndyCar
Event website: www.AutoClubSpeedway.com
INDYCAR website: www.IndyCar.com
2014 race winner: Tony Kanaan
2014 Verizon P1 Award winner: Helio Castroneves, 1:05.8918, 218.540 mph (two laps)
One-lap qualifying record: Gil de Ferran, 30.255 seconds, 241.428 mph, Oct. 28, 2000
Two-lap qualifying record: Will Power, 1:05.2247, 220.775 mph, Oct. 18, 2013
NBCSN television broadcasts: Qualifying, midnight ET Saturday, June 27 (tape delay); Race, 4 p.m. ET Saturday, June 27 (live). Leigh Diffey is the lead announcer, alongside analysts Steve Matchett and Paul Tracy. Pit reporters are Jon Beekhuis, Kevin Lee, Kelli Stavast and Robin Miller.
Advance Auto Parts INDYCAR Radio Network broadcasts: Paul Page is chief announcer with analyst Jaques Lazier. Pit reporters are Dan Rusanowsky, Nick Yeoman and Michael Young, with Mark Jaynes and Jake Query in the turns. Verizon IndyCar Series qualifying and races air live on network affiliates, Sirius 212, XM 209, IndyCar.com, indycarradio.com and the INDYCAR 15 app. Practice sessions are available on IndyCar.com, indycarradio.com and the INDYCAR 15 app.
Video streaming: All practice sessions for the 2015 Verizon IndyCar Series season and this weekend’s qualifying session are available live on RaceControl.IndyCar.com.
INDYCAR 15 app: The Verizon INDYCAR 15 app has exclusive features for Verizon Wireless customers, including interactive 3D Live View with real-time leaderboard and car telemetry to see where drivers are positioned, a leaderboard with enhanced 2D “marching ants” and car telemetry, in-car camera video streams from cameras that move 360 degrees and driver-pit crew chatter during the race.
At-track schedule (all times local):
Friday, June 26
8:30 – 9:30 a.m. – Verizon IndyCar Series rookie practice
9:30 – 10:15 a.m. – Verizon IndyCar Series practice
12:45 – 2 p.m. – Verizon IndyCar Series practice
4:45 – 6 p.m. – Verizon IndyCar Series qualifying (single-car format, two laps each)
Saturday, June 27
9:30 – 9:35 a.m. – Verizon IndyCar Series systems check (one time around track)
1 p.m. – NBCSN on air
1:36 p.m. – MAVTV 500 (250 laps/500 miles), NBCSN (live)
Race notes:
* There have been seven different winners in 10 Verizon IndyCar Series races in 2015: Juan Pablo Montoya (Streets of St. Petersburg and Indianapolis 500), James Hinchcliffe (NOLA Motorsports Park), Scott Dixon (Streets of Long Beach and Texas Motor Speedway), Josef Newgarden (Barber Motorsports Park and Streets of Toronto), Will Power (Grand Prix of Indianapolis), Carlos Munoz (Raceway at Belle Isle-1) and Sebastien Bourdais (Raceway at Belle Isle-2). In 2014, there were a record-tying 11 different race winners.
* The MAVTV 500 will be the 14th Indy car race at Auto Club Speedway. Tony Kanaan won the race in 2014 when it was the season finale. Mark Blundell won the first Indy car race at the track in 1997.
* This is the third of six oval races on the 2015 Verizon IndyCar Series schedule. Montoya won the Indianapolis 500 on May 24, while Dixon won the Firestone 600 at Texas Motor Speedway on June 6.
* Jimmy Vasser, Adrian Fernandez and Sam Hornish Jr. are the only drivers to win at Auto Club Speedway more than once. Vasser won in 1998 and 2002 (CART), Fernandez in 1999 and 2004, and Hornish won back-to-back races under INDYCAR sanction in 2002 and 2003. Ed Carpenter (2012), Power (2013) and Kanaan (2014) are past winners entered in this year’s race.
* Drivers who have won poles at Auto Club Speedway entered in this year’s race are: Kanaan (2002, CART), Helio Castroneves (2003, 2004 and 2014), Marco Andretti (2012) and Power (2013). Dario Franchitti (2005) and Power (2013) are the only drivers to win at Auto Club Speedway from the pole position.
* Twenty drivers entered in this year’s event have competed in past Indy car races at Auto Club Speedway. Castroneves and Kanaan (11) have the most starts among the entered drivers. Fourteen of those drivers have led laps at the track (Castroneves 310, Kanaan 180, Montoya 130, Power 111, Ryan Hunter-Reay 71, Carpenter 66, Dixon 48, Sebastien Bourdais 35, Charlie Kimball 22, James Jakes 11, Andretti 7, Takuma Sato 6, Ryan Briscoe 2 and Newgarden 1).
* After winning the Indianapolis 500 in May, Montoya chases the second leg of the Triple Crown for Verizon IndyCar Series 500-mile races this weekend. The last Indy car driver to capture the Triple Crown was Al Unser in 1978 (with wins at Indianapolis, Pocono Raceway and Ontario Motor Speedway). Because he also won the 2014 Pocono 500-mile race, Montoya would hold the “virtual” Triple Crown if he wins this weekend at Auto Club Speedway since he would be the reigning champion at all three tracks.
* Kanaan has finished on the podium in five of his last six races at Auto Club Speedway, including his win in 2014. Carpenter has finished on the podium in his last three Auto Club Speedway races (first in 2012, second in 2013 and third in 2014). Dixon has finished in the top 10 in seven of his eight previous races at Auto Club Speedway.
* Kanaan seeks to start his 244th consecutive race this weekend, which would extend his Indy car-record streak that began in June 2001 at Portland. Teammate Dixon looks to make his 186th consecutive start this weekend.
* Chip Ganassi Racing, with wins by Vasser (1998) and Kanaan (2014), is the only current Verizon IndyCar Series team with more than one victory at Auto Club Speedway.
* Team Penske has one win at the track (Power in 2013), which was built and previously operated by team owner Roger Penske. Team Penske has five pole positions at the track: Gil de Ferran (2000), Castroneves (2003, 2004 and 2014) and Power (2013).
* The 2015 Verizon IndyCar Series season marked the competition debut of aerodynamic bodywork kits designed, manufactured and supplied by Chevrolet and Honda that attach to the Dallara IR-12 chassis used by all entrants. Cars are differentiated by their shape as the manufacturers have designed a separate aero kit specification for road and street course/short ovals and another for superspeedways. References to the cars incorporate the name of the corresponding kit manufacturer. The superspeedway aero kit versions made their competition debut at the Indianapolis 500 and will be used again this weekend at Auto Club Speedway.
* The No. 3 Hitachi Team Penske crew of Castroneves claimed the Firestone Pit Stop Performance Award at the Honda Indy Toronto on June 14 with a total pit-lane time of 1 minute, 26.278 seconds. This is the crew’s second Pit Stop Performance win in the last four races (Chevrolet Dual in Detroit, Race 1). The crew will receive its $10,000 award during pre-race festivities for the MAVTV 500 at Auto Club Speedway.
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